Medicine is a highly competitive career requiring a lot of hard work and dedication. This is why knowing that this career is right for you is crucial. If it’s not, or if you’re not one hundred percent sure, that will be a lot of time, effort, and, of course, money, learning something you might not actually go on to work in or with.
It’s essential to be sure about any career you want to get into. Still, it’s perhaps even more important when it comes to medicine because it is such a difficult thing to learn and understand. So with that in mind, are you suited to a medical career? Read on to find out and ask yourself the questions you need to ask to ensure you are ready to study medicine.
Do You Want To Be A Lifelong Learner?
Are you someone who enjoys learning and who wouldn’t mind the idea of being a lifelong learner? If so, this is certainly a good sign for a medical career. No matter which career option you choose, you will need to keep learning. Whether you’re a doctor, a nurse, or any other medical worker, you’ll have to keep up to date with all the new ideas about patient treatment and regulations. You’ll also need to know about any breakthroughs in the world of medicine to ensure you are offering your patients the best advice.
If you don’t enjoy learning, medicine won’t be a good fit for you. To begin with, there are many years of study to get through before you can start treating patients. Secondly, as we’ve said, you’ll need to keep learning even once you are qualified.
Are You A Good Team Player?
Something that is very important when you are working in medicine is teamwork. No one can do everything alone, and you’ll always need a team around you to ensure that the patient has the best possible care. Even if you are carrying out a task by yourself or you’ve chosen a career that isn’t what you might automatically assume will be a team-based one, such as being a pharmacist locum, teamwork is still going to be crucial.
Are you a good team player? Do you like working with others, or do you prefer doing things yourself? Neither one of these things is better than the other. Still, if you don’t like working in a team, medicine is going to be a lot harder for you, and it might be better to look into a different career.
Do You Like Responsibility?
People rely on medical personnel for so much. If you are working in medicine, you will be in life-or-death situations in your daily working life. Even if things are that serious, you’ll still be helping people feel better when they are sick. You’ll still be responsible for giving them the right advice and the right medication. Are you someone who enjoys this kind of responsibility?
It certainly isn’t something that everyone wants in their working lives. For some, it could become highly stressful and make them miserable. For others, though, it will be exhilarating and exactly what they want – which type of person are you? It’s important to know because it could be the difference between enjoying medicine and not.
